MM 2023 FebruaryDIGITAL

February 2023 $7.00 I Hate Lent! Stations of Spirituality the Cross of Fasting

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mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm C04onte1n6ts 38FeaturesRegulars mm 8 Marist Spirituality - Part 9 4 Focus Editorial m - Instruments of Mercy 6 Francis Speaks m 12 Embracing Our Humanity 7 Messenger Briefs m 16 Stations of the Cross 25 Daily Reflections m 24 Jesus - a Troublesome Guest 32 February Saint - Saint Susana m 35 Ash for a New Life 50 Death of a Marist - m 36 Too Cool for the Rosary m 38 The Parole Board Fr Michael McVerry SM m 42 Spirituality of Fasting 52 Can You Bear It? m 46 Grow Old with Me 53 Crossword mmmmmmmmmmmm 47 Grief and Gratitude 55 Remembering Our Dead

4 Marist Messenger February 2023 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm FOCUS I hate Lent! By Fr Patrick Brophy SM I hope I don’t upset anyone by saying that. But the truth is that I find Lent long are not going to bring about the end of the and trying. I can imagine people saying world. They will make the world – at least things like, “First World problems – if that our little corner of the world – not as nice a is all he has to worry about, his life is place as it might be. That is the effect of pretty cruisey”, or “that’s pretty shocking sin. The priest went on to tell us that our for a priest, he should be holy enough to lives are generally quite good, but that the welcome the opportunity to do some goodness gets a little frayed around the fasting, prayer and almsgiving,” or “that’s edges – these might be called venial sins. not much in comparison with what the Then when it gets too frayed, the danger is Lord had to suffer”. And these people that the goodness might get ripped up – a would be right with those criticisms. I more major fault that requires a bigger fix. guess I hate Lent because it challenges me to look at myself and sometimes what I see We’re meant to fix the fraying regularly is not what the ideal should be. – and most probably do. Confronted with the great loving goodness and mercy of Lent is not just an opportunity to God, we realise how little and flawed we prepare for Easter, the passion, death, and are. We realise we are sinners. And we ask resurrection of Jesus. It is that, but it is God’s pardon. Sometimes though, we more. It is a chance to focus on what we forget to repair the frayed bit, or, we put it should always be doing anyway. on the back-burner, or, we just hold out – ‘cos we like this little bit of perverse I remember a priest telling us, that control over parts of our life we know we most of us aren’t great sinners. That really should give to God. So, Lent reminds us we our sins are quite miserable – from need to get onto fixing – more accurately, weakness rather than evil. Even the ones allowing God to fix these areas. In its own that cause most of us great shame are way, Advent gives us this opportunity too. really quite pathetic. Not that I’m advocating for improved, bigger and more serious sin! Just that most of us are not as bad as we think we are. And when you think about it, the sins most of us commit

Marist Messenger February 2023 5 These are moments that help us to fine On another topic - by the time you tune our spiritual lives. read this, I will have resigned as the Editor of the Marist Messenger. I have been asked It's just that it seems the Church enters by the Superior General, Fr John Larsen a gloomy, colourless period during the 40 SM, to take up a new role in the Marist days of Lent. I guess that this affects me – General House in Rome. The plan is that I that and giving up chocolate! (By the way, prepare over the next couple of years to be this worries me. One year I gave up sugar the Bursar General of the congregation. in my tea – never took it up again. The This was not how I imagined I’d spend the following year I gave up sugar in my coffee next 6 to 10 years of my Marist life. – I still don’t use sugar in either! Chocolate However, as the saying goes: man (and might go the same way…) So, I try to focus woman!) proposes, God disposes. on giving alms – either money, time, Therefore, at the beginning of March, I’ll energy or prayers, paying good things travel to Rome to take up my new forward and spending more quality time appointment. I’ll assume the role of Bursar in prayer and meditation; attempting to General in early 2025. It has been a real deepen the spiritual life and care for privilege to be the editor of the MM in its others that are hallmarks of our following 94th year. I hope that you, the readers, of Jesus. have enjoyed and benefited from my musings. You may, should the new editor Like all of us, then, I have a challenge wish, hear something from me, from the waiting when Lent begins with Ash Eternal City. Please pray for me, the new Wednesday at the end of this month. At editor, the Society of Mary and our least we know that at the end of Lent beloved Marist Messenger. comes the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord – and all that lovely chocolate!

6 Marist Messenger February 2023 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm condition. It is like a bitter-tasting medicine, he added, “effective for curing Francis Speaks the illness of appearances, a spiritual illness that enslaves us and makes us On Ash Wednesday dependent on the admiration of others.” Jesus warns us that “even prayer, charity, Two kinds of reward and fasting can become self-referential,” the Pope points out, and we must strive to At the start of his homily, the Pope overcome our often hidden self- notes that, as heard in the Gospel at complacency, and unmask and recognise today's liturgy, we need to beware of our own hypocrisies. practicing our piety in order to be seen and praised by others, when instead we Purified by the Lenten ashes should seek from the Father the “eternal, the true and ultimate reward, the purpose The ashes can represent the of our lives.” The reward from others “emptiness” behind our search for worldly instead is “ephemeral” and is inward- rewards, the Pope writes, and “remind us looking, he notes, seeking out admiration that worldliness is like the dust that is for ourselves which is an illusion that carried away by a slight gust of wind. We leaves us unfulfilled. would do well,” he said, to make Lent a time to be “renewed, to nurture our Ashes as an austere sign interior life, and to journey towards Easter, towards the things that do not pass away, The rite of receiving ashes on our towards the reward we are to receive from heads celebrated today, the Pope notes, the Father.” Lent is a journey of healing protects us “from the error of putting the that goes day-by-day with a “renewed reward received from others ahead of the spirit”, he added, and prayer, charity, and reward we receive from the Father,” and fasting are part of the process. marks an “austere sign,” that helps us appreciate the transience of our human Prayer, charity, and fasting The Pope stressed that prayer - in the hiddenness of our rooms - becomes “the secret to making our lives flourish everywhere else,” as it is a warm and trusting dialogue that “consoles and expands our hearts.” May our gaze look at the Crucified Lord, he said, so that our

Marist Messenger February 2023 7 hearts are opened to the “touching mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tenderness of God, and in his wounds place our own wounds and those of our Messenger Briefs world.” Just a friendly reminder from our Prayer put into practice should bear secretary Joanne. Please remember to add fruit in charity, he went on to say, since your name and customer number to your “Lenten charity, purified by these ashes, online payments. Your customer number brings us back to what is essential, to the is on your label and on your invoice. deep joy to be found in giving.” Almsgiving “practised far from the spotlights” can fill Justin Boyle has our hearts with peace and hope. resigned as Rector of St Bede’s College, Finally, fasting helps us appreciate Christchurch. Justin things for their true worth, the Pope notes, was the first layman and it can include things other than food, to lead the College suggesting that we fast “from anything that and has been the can create in us any kind of addiction.” longest serving And may our prayer, charity and fasting rector in the College’s history. He will take grow and be medicine for everyone, up a new role for the Society of Mary as changing history for the better. Director of Special Charism for the three SM owned Colleges: St Patrick’s College, March 2 2022 Kilbirnie; St Bede’s College, and St Patrick’s www.vaticannews.va College, Silverstream. With the appointment of Fr Pat, our editor, to the Society of Mary Casa Generalitia in Rome, the search for a new editor is underway at the time of printing. It is proving a difficult task. Print magazines around the world are struggling to remain viable. Covid and the cost of living crisis have impacted our readership negatively. This is an additional challenge for the Messenger. Please pray for the future of the Marist Messenger.

8 Marist Messenger February 2023 Marist Spirituality: An Introduction - Part 9 Instruments of Mercy

Marist Messenger February 2023 9 “… Lie at the heart of the emotion, time A PRAYER Has its own work to do. We must not anticipate Jesus, Good Shepherd, Saviour, help us to see Or awaken for a moment. that all of us in your Church today God cannot catch us are called to be your labourers, sent into the harvest of our times. Unless we stay in the unconscious room As Marists, help us to bring a mother’s Of our hearts. care and touch to this great work. We must be nothing, An Insight Nothing that God may make us something…” “Mary wants to save all. What interests us Patrick Kavanagh, Having Confessed is the sense of openness, of non-exclusion: even ungodly people are to be included. God “catches us” perhaps by the Thus, it becomes our vocation to hope for a attraction of a theme but then God wants Church that is based less on selection than to “make us something.” We have to distill on a universal call, one without any of the the theme by lying at its heart in stillness barriers we might set up. Mary invites us to so that it crystallises for us. Perhaps this is prepare in hope for the Church of especially so with this, our last Colinian tomorrow” (Jean Coste, A Marian Vision of theme. The “something” God wants to the Church, p.256). make of us as Marists’ is “instruments of mercy.” As we have seen, Father Colin often spoke of Mary as “the support of the Church at its birth and at the end of time.” This phrase provides Marists with their best set of glasses. Through one lens, ‘Mary in the Church at its birth,’ we see and practice the best approach to people – “hidden and unknown.” However, there is a second allied lens, “Mary in the Church in the end times.” Here we see our goal – to facilitate, as we are able, a person / people, to have a relationship with Christ, to be one with him. In a word, to know Mercy himself, and be ourselves instruments of him.

10 Marist Messenger February 2023 “The end times” for Colin, and for making provision for the represented the ‘great gathering-in‘ neglected, the most disadvantaged, those preceding Christ’s second coming. This least valued. doesn’t mean the end is nigh! The scale alone of such an ‘assembling’ suggests a Colin’s complete phrase was actually, project taking a great length of time. For “instruments of the divine mercies.” There Colin, this was why Mary had waited so is a sense here that we are living in such long before intervening to request a new an “age of unbelief” that God now wants a congregation in the church, a family of renewed effort to reach out to a world her own – laity, religious, priests. Colin’s increasingly ignorant of God, a society words point to someone highly attuned now all too comfortable without God. to what Mary as the mother of Christ That in itself, is indeed an attitude, an act most wants to see happen, even today. of divine mercy. This too further explains Mary’s concern, her intervention. In practice, being “instruments of mercy” in the end times, means that as Essentially, our Marist ‘mission’ is to individuals, a community, a Marist help people wavering in faith to persevere, institution, resources are focused on the and to sensitively encourage even the key essentials. It is not the time to focus tiniest seeds of belief in those who have on flash externals all about keeping up lost their faith or who have never known with others. It is THE time to concentrate Christ. Mary, as the mother of all, not only on what builds interior life and character, wants this, but also helps us in this work of mercy. Given that faith is first and

Marist Messenger February 2023 11 foremost a gift from God, what is chiefly asked of us are prayers and our positive example. In a “spirit of faith,” however, we remain open to playing a small part in little seeds landing lightly. Colin himself counselled never to impose too heavily nor ask too much at once (Founder Speaks 40:4). It is a journey into faith and trust for both of us. We have to take on board that it is not about me, nor only up to me! This theme of instruments of mercy is The Practice one of Colin’s earliest insights into the Marist way. It is found in his homilies in “Colin wants us to empty ourselves, so the Bugey missions. As the elected leader that, as far as possible, there are only Jesus, of the Society of Mary he declared that his Father and their Spirit working in and Marists “must accommodate themselves through us. Then egos, ambitions, to the times… we have to win people over sensitivities, self-seeking, self-regard, will by submitting ourselves to them” (FS. not get in the way of God’s grace, of which 158:1; 102.33). He also stressed, “we shall we are to be ministers. We would be profess all those opinions which give channels of that grace, as open as possible greatest play to the mercy of God on and not obstructing, not blocked by weeds account of the great weakness of poor and rubbish” (Justin Taylor, A Marist Reset, human nature, but without falling into a pp.96-97). laxist theology” (FS. 37.2). On November 1st, 1840, when Fr QUESTIONS TO PONDER Maxime Petit landed in New Zealand, he first fell to his knees, kissed the ground 1. Ask yourself where is your mission and said, “We are full of joy in knowing (even missions!) today – is it local, further that we have come here to be the afield or overseas? messengers of the divine mercies.” It seems that the first Marists in Aotearoa 2. Who do we need more as missionaries had taken this theme to heart! today: religious and priests, or lay men and women facing much the same challenges as those struggling in faith and practice? What does this mean for you?

12 Marist Messenger February 2023 By Teresa Rayner Embracing our Humanity

Marist Messenger February 2023 13 Life has been a roller coaster lately. One humanity was really at the fore, I day, everything's going great and I’m super connected with Him even more deeply. organised and enjoying living life to the full, and the next, I’m feeling overwhelmed Did you know that one time Jesus was and stressed! so focused on His ministry, His friends had to remind him to eat (John 4:31)? The I don’t know about you, but I find that Bible says ‘urge’ - He didn’t just need a often it can be very easy to feel guilty for friendly reminder, but it seems as though those downward roller coaster dives. If I Jesus hadn’t eaten in a while and the know God loves me and has set me free, I disciples were fearing for His health. Going shouldn’t be feeling stressed about right back to the beginning, Jesus came anything right? Ideally, yes – but I don’t into this world as a tiny, helpless baby – or think even the saints had that perfected! as Sister Judy (a Missionary of God’s Love) It’s much easier said than done. And God said on retreat; ‘He was squashed out like doesn’t expect us to have it all together all the rest of us.’ He was born – He didn’t just the time – or even some of the time. He suddenly appear in the stable! Jesus doesn’t mind if we’re feeling stressed or experienced anger - we all know the time burnt out. To be clear, this doesn’t mean He started flipping tables in the Temple He wants us to stay that way. But God (Matthew 21:12-13). He felt sorrow and knows what it is like to be human. And grief just as we do, weeping at Lazarus’ following Him doesn’t mean total freedom tomb (John 11:35). Jesus knew death was from worldly cares – rather the ability to not the end, and He even said that Lazarus allow Him to carry them with us. would live again, yet He still wept. He knew rejection - despite all the amazing Recently I participated in a five-day miracles and signs He worked, His own silent retreat. On one of the days, we were townspeople still rejected him (Luke 4:24- asked to get in touch with Jesus’ humanity. 29), and we know He was rejected, even to Now I don’t know what you think of Jesus, the point of death. One of Jesus’ closest but personally, I tend to skip over the friends betrayed Him. Thomas doubted, human side of Him and focus more on His even after walking with Him for three divinity. It’s kind of like what we do with years. Peter denied Him. Of His friends, the saints – we know they’re human, but only John was there at the foot of the cross they’re not human like us right? They’re as He died. different, holier, ‘better’ humans. And Jesus is human, but not like us! But during You would think being the Son of God this retreat, as I flicked through Scripture would mean plain sailing, adoring crowds, pinpointing moments where Jesus’ and an easy life. Just as we would think

14 Marist Messenger February 2023 holiness comes naturally to the saints or mean there will be no suffering or being Christian makes life perfect all the weakness. But, as we celebrate during the time because we have God. These are Easter Season, ultimately He reminds us things we seem to sub-consciously that God is greater. God can use even the believe, but when it’s written out in such darkest of moments to shine His light and plain terms, that doesn’t sound right, does fill us with His love. So, it is OK to it? We know Jesus’ life was not easy – He experience downward roller coaster endured rejection, betrayal, hunger, grief, moments! It’s OK to be human. Where we suffering, and even death, forsaken even fall short – and we will, a lot – God makes by His own Father (Matthew 27:46). up. Take a moment to sit with Jesus at the At a recent canonisation ceremony, Mount of Olives as He prayed that He Pope Francis said; wouldn’t need to endure what was coming (Luke 22:39-44). Even knowing the bigger “Holiness does not consist of a few picture - even knowing this wasn’t the end heroic gestures, but of many small acts of - Jesus was still human, and still struggled daily love...[The saints] discovered an with the inevitability of suffering. incomparable joy and they became brilliant reflections of the Lord of history. Jesus shows us how we can still live life For that is what a saint is: a luminous to the full while embracing our humanity. reflection of the Lord of history.” He shows us that a life with God doesn’t A saint is not someone who is somehow holier than, or above, the things of this world. They are someone who reflects the ‘Lord of History.’ How? By embracing their humanity just as Jesus did, and allowing their lives – suffering, stress and all – to reflect the love of God as exemplified through Jesus Christ. So next time you’re feeling very human and frail and weak and are tempted to start piling on the guilt because you feel you’re not living as a good Christian should (whatever that means!) - think ‘What would Jesus do?’

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16 Marist Messenger February 2023 Stations of the Cross Text: adapted from First Station: Life Teen Stations of the Cross, Archdiocese of Winnipeg, Canada Jesus is Condemned to Death Illustrations of Stations of the Cross from the There you stand before the crowd after Church of the Holy Trinity in the Bavarian village being beaten. You never deny yourself, yet humbly accept the punishment given to of Gemunden am Main, in the Diocese of you by those who had witnessed your Wurzburg. miracles. It’s easy to look at this scene now and think, “How could they have accused © Zatletic | Dreamstime.com you and condemned you to death? All you did was love every person you met.” How often do I ignore you in the person no one wants to talk to? How often do my words condemn you in the way that I speak about others? It was not only the Jews and Pontius Pilate who condemned you, but I stand next to them shouting just as loud, “Crucify Him!” Jesus, forgive me for the ways in which I condemn and pierce others with my words and actions. Help me to love like you and to learn from your example.

Marist Messenger February 2023 17 Second Station: Third Station: Jesus carries the Cross Jesus Falls for the First time By now you have endured a sleepless As you walk through the narrow streets, night, betrayal by your friends, and a every movement, every jolt burns and beating that is too horrible to fully reopens your wounds. The pain along with imagine. You’ve been whipped, stripped, the weight of the cross becomes too much and spat on, by some who last week and you fall. In boxing, when a fighter falls treated you as royalty as you entered the and is too beaten to continue, the fight is city. Now, they hand you a cross to carry. stopped by the referee. Yet, there is no one The weight of it is far more than weight we there to stop the battle that you fight for can imagine. For in carrying the cross, you us. Even though you know what still lies carry the weight of our sins. ahead, you do not stop and somehow find the strength to continue. How often do I forget that you have carried the load for me? How often do I try How many times have I fallen in my to carry things on my own, not allowing walk? Too many to count, I’m sure. So you to help me? It was not only the sins of many times when I fall I don’t feel like the world that you carried; it was my sin, getting back up and trying again. There are my selfishness, my pride, my anger. It was too many temptations that I am faced with not only my sin that you carried but also that feel too fun and easy to do because so my burdens, my worries, my fears. Each many around me are doing them. you carried step by step to Golgotha, the place of the Skull. Jesus, help me to remember your courage and perseverance when you fell. Jesus, help me not to forget the load that Give me the courage to get back up when I you carried for me. Give me the strength fall. Help me remember that it is worth it to and the courage to let go of those things live as you lived. that separate me from you.

18 Marist Messenger February 2023 Fourth Station: Fifth Station: Jesus Meets His Mother Simon helps Jesus carry his Cross Amid all the shouts and jeers from the The soldiers who had beaten you all crowd that echo in your mind as you day had what appears to be a moment of struggle to remain conscious, one voice compassion. Yet instead, their selfish stands out. It is so faint that you wonder if motives override their opportunity for it is real, but then as your eyes meet and charity. They only want to follow their you see her face you are not surprised that orders to get you up to the place where she is there for you. She has always been you will be crucified. How beaten you look there for you. Her ‘Yes’ to the Father has that they decide to grab Simon, a been a light in the darkness. And now, here Cyrenian, out of the crowd to help you in your darkest hour, she is there. carry the cross. He follows behind you, walking in your steps, helping you move There are so many times when I feel forward. You press on, knowing that the alone in my struggles. It seems that no one worst is yet to come. understands what I am going through; but I realize someone must. How many times How often do I pass up an opportunity have I hidden things out of fear of what to help someone in need? Do I let what loved ones would say, or what trouble I others may think of me stop me from would be in when all they want is to love reaching out? me? Jesus, open my ears to hear the ways Jesus, help me to remember that I am that you call me to serve. Help me follow never alone in my struggles. Help me to see Simon’s example of helping others. Help me my friends as you saw yours. Help me know to know what it means to be a true and their love for me and when things are hard, faithful servant. help me to remember the light of your Mother in my life.

Marist Messenger February 2023 19 Sixth Station: Seventh Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus Jesus falls the second time. By now the thorns cut so deeply into The soldiers are enraged at you for your head that even seeing where you falling this time. Simon’s help is not should step next is almost impossible. All enough. In their anger they hit you again who approach you, other than your and again before they remember that you mother, either shout at you or spit in your have to be alive to be crucified. The face. Now Veronica approaches, differently beating stops, but the shouts and taunts from the others. As she reaches out her become louder and harsher. At this hands and wipes your face with her cloth, moment you can stop this! You are the suddenly her face of compassion becomes Messiah and have the power to stop it. But clear. No words are necessary, both your you know that it would not fulfil all that is eyes say it all. For in that moment, your written about you. You know that you human dignity is restored. must be faithful to all of the Father’s promises to His people. Now with your How many times have I forgotten that wounds full of dirt and each step each person is made in your image and embedding it deeper, you keep going. likeness and therefore deserves my respect? Do I make others objects of my How many times have I failed to follow pleasure and ignore their humanity? through on my promises? Or worse still, Veronica courageously stepped forward how often have I lied, even to people I care and dared to treat you differently about? Do I remember your faithfulness fromeveryone else. Could I do the same? even when I fail? Jesus, help me to see your presence in Jesus, help me to believe in your others. Give me the courage to follow faithfulness and love for me. Give me the Veronica’s example of treating others with grace to follow through on my word to love even when no one else does. others. Help me to be a person of integrity.

20 Marist Messenger February 2023 Eighth Station: Ninth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. Jesus falls for the third time. Their wailing sounds like a funeral. Again you fall, this time from sheer They cry and weep as if you are already exhaustion. Only your will presses you dead. While air still passes through your forward while your body refuses. How lungs and your heart still beats, to them, difficult it must be to be you, fully God and you are dead. They know you are on your fully human. God knows that this has to be way to be crucified and because of the finished and that it is not yet complete. beating you have endured you already Your body feels the excruciating pain and look like you should not be breathing at your every bone wants to stop right here all. Yet in this moment consumed by and move no further. Somehow both join death, you speak words of life and say, together and you muster the strength to “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for get up. You vow to not fall again because me.” now, you can see the place they are leading you to. You know the end is close and so Do I listen to your words in my life? you press on. How often have the things I’ve watched or listened to, led me away from you? Have I How many times have I let my flesh allowed the gospel of Life to reign in my win over my spirit? How often have I heart? chosen to sin rather than to follow your way? Was it my sin that became too heavy Jesus, help me to listen to your words of that you fell this third time? life. Show me ways that I can put you first in my life. Jesus, help me to follow your ways. Help me remember your victory over my sin. Give me the grace to recognise when I sin and the desire to sin no more.

Marist Messenger February 2023 21 Tenth Station: Eleventh Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments. Jesus is nailed to the cross. In some ways to get to this point is a Lying on wood is not foreign to you. relief because you know this is almost The first place you were laid as a baby was over. In other ways it is terrifying because a wooden manger. You were laid there in you know the worst pain possible is still love and now it’s for love that you lie here waiting for you to endure . By now your on this wooden cross. The soldiers pull bloodied cuts have dried into your your right arm. Horrific pain flows through garments, because of this they act as a your entire body. The nails pierces not layer of skin for you since so little of your only your hand but also your whole body. own remains. As the soldiers strip you The soldier hammers them in, only bare, what is painful is the vicious tearing stopping to wipe your blood off his own of your skin. The cuts that had closed face. Pain shoots up your legs as they nail reopen and once again a river of blood your feet. runs all over your body. You are stripped of your human dignity Even animals are I am angered by the soldiers. What is given a swifter, less painful death. hardest to realize is that not only am I in the crowd watching all of this, but I’m also How often have I judged others by the one of them nailing you to the cross. How way they look or what they are wearing? many times has my sin become a strike of Do I find my own self-worth and self- the nail into your body? How often do I identity by the clothes I wear or the way I turn away from your mercy? look? Jesus, I’m sorry for nailing you to the Jesus, help me to look past the outside cross with my own sin. Help me to seek your of others. Help me not to judge them by forgiveness and mercy for the times that I how they look or what they wear. Help me sin. to find my self-worth and identity in you.

22 Marist Messenger February 2023 Twelfth Station: Thirteenth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross. Jesus is taken down from the Cross. Above your head is the inscription, The first arms that held you in this ‘King of the Jews’. As you use every last world are also the last. On the day the day ounce of life left in you to lift your body so your mother presented you as an infant to that you can speak, you do not look like a the Father, she was told a sword would King. Yet, every word out of your mouth is pierce her heart. Now as she holds your one of love, truly from another kingdom. body that is mangled beyond recognition, The faces of all humanity must flash she sees not only the man she now holds, before your eyes as one by one you recall but also the child she once held and her for whom you are doing this. Finally you heart is pierced. Your comfort to her will say, “Father, into your hands I commend come, but in this moment she has only the my spirit...it is finished.” You breathe your Father to be with her in her sorrow and last and it appears as though this is the pain. All hope seems gone. end. How many times have I lost hope in Jesus, help me never forget your love for you? How often have I doubted your me. Help me to know that you died for me. ability to be God in my life over all things? Fill me with comfort in knowing that I never suffer anything you don’t understand. Jesus, help me to trust in you. Help me to place all of my hope in you and give me peace in knowing that you are Lord over all things.

Marist Messenger February 2023 23 Jesus, help me always remember that death is not the end. Give me the strength to say the words, “I love you” to those people in my life whom I do love. Help me to love every person, not just in words, but also with my actions. Jesus, I love you, I need you, and I trust you. Amen. Fourteenth Station: Jesus is placed in the tomb. You are laid to rest by Joseph of Arimethea, Mary Magdalene, Mary your mother and a few other women. As your body is anointed, Mary Magdalene remembers your eyes penetrating her heart. Tears stream down her face along with the others there as they too remember your love. They wrap your body in clean linens and lay it in a new tomb. The stone is rolled over the entrance and now it surely is the end. Up to this point, death is final. While those you have lived with, laughed with and cried with are in their heightened sorrow believing all is over, you are conquering sin and death. How many times has death felt like the end? When I’ve lost a loved one it can be so hard to remember your victory. How often do I miss the opportunities to say, “I love you’ to those special people in my life? Do my family and friends know how I feel about them?

24 Marist Messenger February 2023 Jesus - a troublesome guest By Bridget Taumoepeau In a reflection on the story of Martha Pope Francis often refers to the God of and Mary, Pheme Perkins, a theologian at surprises, and here is Jesus, in our kitchen, Boston College, commented that Jesus can listening to our woes, challenging us, be a difficult guest in our lives. Imagine using stories to explain it all to us. He is him visiting us - he does not come in a intolerant, as Francis also reminds us, of formal way, arriving at a pre-arranged the idea that we just do things the same time, sitting down with the best china for a old way. He shocks us with the idea that cup of tea and sticking to the social rules. attaining wealth will nor benefit us; that He does not engage in polite chitchat. there is a poor man on our doorstep whom we have been ignoring; that the poor are He is the person who, always with us. Not just pointing out these unannounced, knocks on things, but asking us what we are going to our door do about it. There are many, he tells us, who have gone before us, finding it hard to Rather, he is the person who, change course and give up the ways of the unannounced, knocks on our door, finds world to follow his path. us in a bit of a mess, with the daily chores waiting to be done, props himself up A visit like this will certainly unsettle against the bench in the kitchen, not my day - just give me a moment, Lord, to bothered about the type of mug we offer, take all this in – can you come back again and gives us a bit of a hard time. Mary soon? We will take up this conversation, warned us, in the Magnificat, that he and I will be able to see how far I have got would be turning the world upside down, along the path that you are laying out for ‘bringing down the powerful, raising the me. Be patient, Lord, with me – I will try lowly’. my best, but it is a big (yet beautiful) ask.

Marist Messenger February 2023 25 By Fr John Rea SM mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm offered. But now we are God’s temple.” Do you not know that your body is a temple of Wednesday 1 February the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were Hebrews 12: 4-7,11-15, Psalm 103: 1-2, 13- bought with a price. So glorify God in your 14, 17-18a, Mark 6: 1-6 body.” (1 Cor.6: 19-20) A sting in the tail mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm The sting is in the tail of the Gospel Friday 3 February reading. “… he marvelled because of their unbelief.” His audience believed in God Hebrews 13: 1-8, Psalm 27: 1,3,5,8b-9, otherwise they wouldn’t have been in the Mark 6: 14-29 Synagogue. They had the faith that is commitment to God and his Law. What A minor character they didn’t have and what surprised the Lord Jesus was that they lacked expectant John is a sainted hero. Herod and faith. They fell to criticising him instead of Herodias are something else. What of the hoping for miracles. When I pray do I girl who came in and danced? According really expect God to hear and answer me? to Herod’s family tree, at that time she was about seven years old. Children, born and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm unborn, are the most sinned against group of people in the world. Child poverty is a Thursday 2 February curse in an affluent country like NZ. Apart from praying, what am I doing to combat PRESENTATION OF THE LORD these evils? Malachi 3: 1-4, Psalm 24: 7-10, Hebrews 2: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 14-18, Luke 2: 22- 40 Saturday 4 February The temple Hebrews 13: 15-17 & 20-21, Psalm 23: 1- The Lord Jesus fulfilled Malachi’s 3,4,5,6. Mark 6:30=34 prophecy when Joseph and Mary brought him into the temple for the first time. The Smell of the sheep temple was the centre for Jewish worship, the only place where sacrifices could be The shepherd-less flock is a constant

26 Marist Messenger February 2023 Biblical theme. The need for shepherds is told him to go and share his healing with as great today as in the past. Parents and others. He did as bidden. The people in grandparents are called to shepherd their today’s Gospel recognised Jesus because families and older children their younger the formerly possessed man witnessed to siblings. All of us, in virtue of Christ’s them. He had become a ‘dry’ martyr. St word, are to be compassionate as the Paul and associates please teach us how to Father is compassionate. (Luke 6: 36). witness to the Faith. Early last year Pope Francis drove the lesson home when he said, “I dream of a mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm church that is a mother and a shepherdess.” Who do I pastor? Tuesday 7 February mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Genesis 1: 20-2:4a, Psalm 8: 4-9, Mark 7: 1- 13 Sunday 5 February Family First FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for elevating Isaiah 58: 7-10, Psalm 112: 4-9, human rules above God’s 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5, Matthew 5: 13-16 Commandments. “Honour your father and mother, (this is the first The light brigade commandment with a promise), that all may be well with you and that you may “So let your light live long on the earth.” (Eph 6:2). “Parents shine before men …” must regard their children as children of In the second half of God and respect them as human persons. our Gospel reading Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Lord Jesus urges the Father in heaven, they educate their us to evangelise. By children to fulfil God’s law.” (CCC 2222) far the best way to share our Faith is by mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the loving way in which we live. If we Wednesday 8 February are truly loving, people will be drawn to us like moths to light. They will ask us about Genesis 2: 4b-9, 15-17, Psalm 104, Mark our lifestyle and we can then tell them 7:14-23 what Jesus means to us. Testing, testing, testing mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm God tested Adam’s love for him by forbidding him to eat the fruit of the tree Monday 6 February of the knowledge of good and evil. He tested the Israelites during their PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS wandering in the desert. He tests our faith and our love for him by the trials and Genesis 1: 1-19, Psalm 104, Mark 6: 53-56 temptations he allows us to undergo. But, A martyr is a witness. But people witness as St Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10, he to Jesus not only by dying for him, as Paul never tests us beyond our strength. Praise Miki and his companions did. When the his glorious Name. Lord healed the Gadarene demoniac he

Marist Messenger February 2023 27 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the wilderness. God used Elisha to feed 100 men with five barley loaves. Prior to Thursday 9 February the multiplication of bread in our Gospel reading the Lord Jesus had fed 5000 men Genesis 2:18- 25, Psalm 128: 1-5, with five loaves and two fish. He invites us Mark 7: 24-30 to help feed the starving millions around the world by contributing to aid agencies. Let’s learn a lesson He says, “I have no hands but yours.” Here is Jesus trying to escape from people mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm but this woman susses him out. She has a need but not for herself. The Lord tries to Sunday 12 February put her off but wittily she turns his SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME derogatory comment to her favour. Jesus Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20, Psalm 119: 1-5&17- sets her daughter free as a reward for the 18&33-34, 1 Cor 2: 6-10, Matthew 5:17-37 faith that led her to humbly persevere in St John Paul ll and Mehmet Ali Agca asking. cf. Matthew 15: 28. What a lesson in how to pray prayers of petition. In 1981Ali Agca attempted to assassinate St John Paul ll. From the hospital the pope mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm asked everyone to “pray for my brother (Agca) whom I have sincerely forgiven.” Friday 10 February The Holy Father knew and lived Jesus’ words about forgiveness. “If you forgive SAINT SCHOLASTICA men … your heavenly Father will forgive you.” “Forgive … seventy times seven. Genesis 3: 1-8, Psalm 32: 1-2 & 5-7, Mark 7: times” “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” 31-37 Whether I am the sinner or the one sinned against, am I always the first to seek Emotions motivate reconciliation? Jesus is like to us in all things except sin. Accordingly, he has emotions and displays them. Check out the man’s withered hand in Mark 3, the widow at Nain in Luke 7, the epileptic boy in Mark 9. The Lord’s emotions at the sight of the sick, disturbed and demonised moved him to heal the afflicted. So it is too in regard to the deaf tongue-tied man in our Gospel reading. Am I compassionate to the disabled, diseased and distressed? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Saturday 11 February Genesis 3: 9-24, Psalm 90: 2-6 & 12-13, Mark 8: 1-10 I have no hands but yours God fed the Israelites with bread from heaven during the forty years they spent in

28 Marist Messenger February 2023 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Monday 13 February Wednesday 15 February Genesis 4: 1-15, 25, Psalm 50: 1, 8, 16-17, Genesis 8: 6-13, 20-22, Psalm 116: 12-15, 20-21, Mark 8: 11-13 18-19, Mark 8: 22-26 My Brother’s Keeper Toxic Environment The old Penny Elsewhere in the Gospel we learn that Catechism has much Bethsaida was riddled with unbelief. to say about the first That’s why Jesus took the man outside the reading. Q/ What are village for healing prayer and cautioned the sins against the him not to enter the village after he was Fifth Commandment? healed. Unbelief could prevent a healing A/ They are wilful beforehand and destroy it afterwards by murder, fighting, persons denying it ever happened. Let’s quarrelling, injurious pray that our families and all other words, scandal, bad Christian institutions be faith-filled example, unjust communities. anger, hatred and revenge. The remedy mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm for these evils is to love all others for the sake of Jesus. Again. that Catechism: We Thursday 16 February are to love others by wishing them well, praying for one another, and never Genesis 9: 1-13, Psalm 102: 16-21&22-23, allowing ourselves any thought, word or Mark 8: 27-33 deed that injures anyone. God’s will or mine? Tuesday 14 February Jesus knew the prophecies in Isaiah and in Genesis 6: 5-8 ,7:1-5, Psalm 29: 1-4, 9-10, the Psalms about the suffering Saviour Mark 8: 14-21 and willingly embraced them. “Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say, ‘Father Lessons from Noah and the Ark save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father Don’t miss the boat. We’re all in the same glorify thy Name.” (John 12: 27). That’s boat. Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when why he sternly rebuked Peter. How strong Noah built the Ark. Stay fit because when is my personal devotion to God’s Holy you’re eighty God may ask you to do Will? something big. Don’t listen to critics, just get on with the job. For safety’s sake travel mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm with others. Speed isn’t necessarily an advantage. Snails were on board with the Friday 17 February cheetahs. The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. Where God is Genesis 11: 1-9, Psalm 33: 10-15, Mark 8: there’s always peace. 34-9:1 To what purpose Q/ Of which must I take more care, my body or my soul? A/ I must take much more care of my soul for Christ has said,

Marist Messenger February 2023 29 “What does it profit a man if he gains the sanctification.” (1 Thess. 4) “Make love whole world and suffers the loss of his own your aim.” (1 Cor 14: 1) “… that we should soul.” That’s the second number in the be holy and blameless.” (Eph.1: 4) “Strive Penny Catechism. It explains why the Lord for the holiness without which no one will Jesus instructs us to deny ourselves. It see God.” (Hebrews 12: 14.) helps us achieve life’s purpose; of making it to heaven. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Monday 20 February Saturday 18 February Ecclesiasticus 1: 1-10, Psalm 93: 1-2 & 5, Mark 9: 14-29 Hebrews 11: 1-7, Psalm 145: 2-5, 10-11, Mark 9: 2-13 What’s the issue? Christmas Pie The issue is not whether Jesus has the power to heal the boy but whether the Let’s do a Jack father truly believes that the Lord can set Horner and pull his son free. Jesus’ healing power is more just one plum out than enough for the task. That power, of this rich Gospel though, has to be sought with faith, fasting Reading. “This is and prayer. Are there times in my life my beloved Son; when I need to echo that father’s prayer; listen to him.” “Father, I believe. Help my unbelief.”? Jesus speaks to us in many ways but mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm pre-eminently when the Tuesday 21 February Scriptures are read in church. When it’s hard to listen to a lector at Holy Mass or Ecclesiasticus 2: 1-11, Psalm 37: 3-4, 18-19, other liturgy try watching his or her lips. 27-28, 39-40, Mark 9: 30-37 They can be an excellent visual aid Stood on its head mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Throughout the ages Sunday 19 February the world’s ideal of being great is to have SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME the esteem, favour and applause of Leviticus 19: 1-4, 17-18, Psalm 103: 1-4, 8- others. That’s the 13, 1 Cor 3: 16-23, Matthew 5: 38-48 standard Jesus turned upside down. No Holy … what me? greater than he has ever lived on earth but he “humbled In our Gospel Reading Jesus gives us some himself and became obedient unto death of the implications in the first reading. The … Therefore, God has highly exalted him.” Holy Spirit takes up the theme again The Lord Jesus has set the standard. The elsewhere in the New Testament. “Love humbler we are, the greater we are in the one another even as I have loved you.” Kingdom of God. (John 13: 34) “This is the Will of God, your

30 Marist Messenger February 2023 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Choose life Wednesday 22 February Moses posed this choice to the Israelites in the wilderness. Centuries apart Joshua ASH WEDNESDAY and Elijah both repeat the challenge. The Lord Jesus presents us with the same (Fast day for 18 to 59 year olds. Abstinence choice. “Enter by the narrow gate, for the from meat for those 14 and over) gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction … For the gate is narrow Joel 2: 12-18, Psalm 51: 3-6 & 12-14, 17, and the way is hard that leads to life, and 2 Cor 5: 20-6: 2, Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18 those who find it are few.” What’s the real point? The tradition of depriving ourselves of mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm food and perhaps of some forms of drink, today and during Lent, is to contribute to Friday 24 February the poor what we have saved through our self-denial. This almsgiving is an act of Isaiah 58:1-9a, Psalm 51: 3-6, 18=19, mercy as we prepare to celebrate the Matthew 9: 14-15 greatest ever act of Mercy, our Lord’s passion and death. Our Lenten Baby and bath water observance is also a way of getting ready to celebrate his glorious Resurrection. Our Lord’s similitudes about the old and the new refer to the Old Law and the New mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Law. The message is to jettison religious activities that no longer fulfil their purpose Thursday 23 February and replace them with forms that truly worship God and sanctify the people. In SAINT POLYCARP, BISHOP AND MARTYR this we follow the teaching authority of the Church. Otherwise we could be throwing Deuteronomy 30: 15-20, Psalm 1-4, 6, the baby out with the bathwater. Luke 9: 22-25

Marist Messenger February 2023 31 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the enemy with Bible verses; the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Why Saturday 25 February not give more time to reading and studying the Scriptures as a Lenten Isaiah 58: 9b-14, Psalm 86: 1-6, Luke 5: 27- exercise this year? 32 Memorable motif mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Pope Francis’s motto is from St Bede’s commentary on today’s Gospel reading. Monday 27 February “Choosing through the eyes of mercy.” The pope’s merciful acts are legion. He Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18, Psalm 19: 8-10, 15, peppered a letter on mercy with such Matthew 25: 31-46 comments as, “mercy is a wellspring of joy, serenity and peace … our salvation End times depends on it … God’s ultimate and supreme act in which he comes to meet We can’t say we haven’t been warned us.” Let’s resolve to live daily our Lord’s what to expect. Jesus gives us the twofold word, “Be merciful as your heavenly commandment of love and tells us that on Father is merciful.” these two depend the whole law and the prophets. He gives us the Good Samaritan mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm in Luke 10 and three other great parables of love and mercy in Luke 15. In John 13 Sunday 26 February he tells us to love one another as he has FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT loved us. Mary, queen and mother of the Genesis 2: 7-9, 3:1-7, Psalm 51: 3-6, 12-14, 17, end times pray for us. Rom 5: 12-19, Matthew 4: 1-11 Sword of the Spirit mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Three times Satan attempts to seduce Tuesday 28 February Jesus. Each is equivalent to three temptations the Israelites faced in their Isaiah 55: 10-11, Psalm 34: 4-7, 16-19, desert wanderings. They failed the three Matthew 6: 7-15 tests. Jesus overcame. He teaches us to foil The Key “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a bridge that spans the two halves of the Our Father. It is also a key that unlocks the purpose of life –– to glorify God. That’s what the first part of the prayer is about. But we can’t glorify God unless he gives us the means to exalt him. He unlocks these in the second part. The Lord’s Prayer is also the key to holiness. If we live it we will become the saints God wants us to be.

32 Marist Messenger February 2023 By Fr Mervyn Duffy SM mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm February Saint Saint Susanna - a New Zealand link Santa Susanna in the chapel of the Virgin, Carolus I am working in the Marist Archive, Borromeuskerk, Antwerp Wellington, and one of the items that has caught my interest is an 1847 Māori Sebastiaan de Neve c. 1638–1640 Catholic prayer book – Ko te ako me te karakia o te hahi Katorika Romana, which was printed in Russell and approved for use in the Vicariate of Western Oceania by Bishop Phillip Viard who was then Bishop Pompallier’s coadjutor. It is a substantial little book of 576 pages and it includes a liturgical calendar. The Calendar is unusual in having a saint for every day. I have been trying to track down where they got their saints from. For 12 February they have Hata Huhana, a martyr. So who was this, and

Marist Messenger February 2023 33 So, ‘Huhana’ is ‘Susanne’ in French, which is often rendered as ‘Susanna’ in English. There is a famous Susanna in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament but who is the martyr Susanna? When I studied in Rome, the Paulist Fathers staffed a church which styled itself as the American Parish in Rome. This was the church of Santa Susanna and according to legend it was built over her house. This Susanna was the daughter of a From the 1847 Maori Catholic Prayer Book, held in Marist Archives, Wellington where does that reference on the day From the 1835 French Martyrology owned by Fr come from? Petit SM, held in Marist Archives, Wellington Now, our archives also has a copy of a French Martyrologe Universel published in 1835 with the signature of Maxime Petit SM on the flyleaf. Fr Petit (1797-1858) arrived here as a missionary in 1839. He may well be the composer of the 1847 Māori Liturgical Calendar, certainly the 1835 Martyrology is the source of many of the names. For February the twelfth there are a list of saints associated with that day. To match up it had to be a female, and a martyr, and phonetically close to “Huhana.” As you can see in the illustration there is really only the one candidate.

34 Marist Messenger February 2023 priest, Gabinus, and niece of Pope Caius Did You Know? (283-296). An early martyrology gives this reference: “In Rome, at the ‘Two Houses’ ▶ The Catholic Church consists of beside the Bath of Diocletian, the birthday more than just the Roman Catholic of St. Susanna.” – birthday referring to her Church. There are 22 Eastern Rites that are martyrdom – birth into heaven. So, in full communion with Rome Susanna could well have been martyred in the great persecution of Christians ordered ▶ While there is no definitive ‘head by Emperor Diocletian in 295 AD. count,’ based on history, the Roman Certainly the church of Santa Susanna martyrology, and Orthodox sources, honours her as a martyr. scholars estimate that there are over 10,000 saints and beati (‘blesses ones’). The only loose end in my story is that St Susanna of Rome is remembered on 11 ▶ The first Catholic pope to step August, so I am not certain that she is the down was Pontian, who headed the same martyr that the 1835 martyrology Catholic Church from A.D. 230–235. He refers to on 12 February. was sentenced to hard labour in the Sardinian mineral mines by Emperor Maximus the Thracian, who loved to persecute Christians. The pope voluntarily stepped down to prevent a power vacuum in the Church. ▶ Though Germanic tribes destroyed most of Roman civilisation, the Catholic Church preserved much classical learning, especially in the monasteries during the Middle Ages. ▶ Approximately 3% of Iraq is Catholic. The Catholic Church has been in Iraq for 400 years. ▶Katholikos, a Greek word meaning ‘toward the whole’ is the root of the word “Catholic”. St Ignatius used this word to show that the Church is a gift of Christ to all people.

Marist Messenger February 2023 35 Ash for a New Life By Fr Gerard Whiteford SM On 20 December 2021, an layer. This layer is highly rich in nutrients eruption began on Hunga Tonga-Hunga and is very good for agricultural use; the Ha’apai, a submarine volcano in the presence of lush forests on volcanic Tongan group of islands. The eruption islands is often as a result of trees growing reached a very large and powerful climax and flourishing in the phosphorus and nearly 4 weeks later, on 15 January 2022. nitrogen-rich andisol. Hunga Tonga is 65 km (40 mi) north of Tongatapu, the country's main island. It triggered a memory of my own from Much of the island of Tongatapu was my childhood; the home I lived in had an covered in volcanic ash. An interesting open fireplace which was used extensively news item some days following the throughout the chilly winter months. January eruption mentioned that many When cleaning out the fireplace the residents were collecting the ash from the residue ash was frequently spread onto the streets and putting the ash on their garden. Apparently, wood ash is an gardens! excellent source of lime and potassium for the garden. Not only that, using ashes in Volcanic sites are frequently the most the garden also provides many of the trace fertile sites on earth. Volcanic ash's elements that plants need to thrive. primary use is that of a soil enricher. Once the minerals in ash are washed into the As we approach Ash Wednesday there soil by rain or other natural processes, it is the opportunity for each of us to re- mixes with the soil to create an andisol imagine the ritual of the blessing and reception of the ashes, re-imagining the ashes not just as a symbol of sinfulness and the need for repentance, rather also as a symbol of nourishment, a symbol of enrichment, a symbol of fertility.

36 Marist Messenger February 2023 Too Cool for the Rosary? By Fr Kevin Bates SM The Lenten Season gives the One of these, tucked deep in our opportunity to re-visit and refresh popular tradition, is the Rosary. Many of elements of our faith that may have us we grew up with the family recitation of slipped out of sight behind the couch for the Rosary nearly every evening, with some of us. As we lead up to the central parental prompts to kneel up straight and mysteries of our faith through the sacred speak up clearly! While these memories days of Holy Week and beyond, it’s worth may not have been always positive, they reminding ourselves of some of the may have served to shape something of instruments that over time have enabled our faith journey that sustained us in us to keep in touch with these mysteries. times of need especially. Some inhabitants of more recent generations may well label the Rosary as boring and repetitive, lacking inspiration and relevance to today’s world. Others may have the Rosary tucked away as a kind of archival piece which is dusted off now and then when stories of the past surface. The Rosary has been latched on to by various devotional groups who layer it with their own piety. This practice has been part of the Rosary over the ages, as families, parishes and devotional groups added their own flavour to the prayer with extra ‘Trimmins’ as they became known.

Marist Messenger February 2023 37 It seems that, for some, the Rosary is The Luminous Mysteries regarded as somehow out of date and full • The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. of tedious repetitions. This is a real irony • The Wedding at Cana. in an age when meditation of all kinds has • Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of become trendy, when ‘spirituality’ has become something of a buzz word, and God. when one’s spiritual quest has become a • The Transfiguration. serious project. • The Institution of the Eucharist. The Rosary is a resource providing a The Sorrowful Mysteries wealth of opportunities for imaginative • Jesus’ Agony in the Garden. reflection on the stories behind the saving • Jesus is condemned to Death. presence of Jesus among us. • The Crowning with Thorns. • Jesus carries his Cross. The prayerful repetition of Hail Mary’s • Jesus dies on the Cross. and the other linking prayers, creates a quiet space in which one can re-visit these The Glorious Mysteries Gospel events and engage with them. We • The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead can see ourselves participating in the • Jesus Ascends into heaven. stories themselves, taking inspiration and • The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the encouragement from them, making resolutions to live more faithfully in the Apostles. light they shine on us. The repetition of the • The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin prayers can serve to quieten the heart and release the imagination, enabling us to be Mary into Heaven. present deeply with Jesus as he makes his • The Coronation of Our Lady as Queen of way among us. Heaven and Earth In case your memory needs jogging, here are the Mysteries we celebrate when As we add our own bits and pieces to we pray the Rosary: the prayer, we need to stay in tune with the mysteries themselves. Some devotional The Joyful Mysteries: groups are prone to add prayers that more • The Annunciation. than double the length of the Rosary and • The Visitation. over-lay it with multiple expressions of • The Nativity – the Birth of Jesus guilt, as if God is hard of hearing! • The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Maintaining our focus on the central • The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. mysteries of our faith rather than on our sinful selves is where the real nourishment and inspiration can be found. May you find some encouragement and peace as you pray. Good restful sleep may well follow!

38 Marist Messenger February 2023 By Paul Elenio The Parole Board A Catholic member explains

Marist Messenger February 2023 39 Eight years of being a member of the We will ask them about the high-risk New Zealand Parole Board and I still get situations they have identified in their asked the same question every time. relapse prevention plans and safety plans and ask them for examples where, even in When people find out that I have just the prison, they can be challenged and done hearings with prisoners the question tested by others regarding what they have I am immediately asked is: “You didn’t let learned – learnings such as consequential anyone out, did you?” thinking, mixing with the wrong crowd, avoiding violence and drugs and alcohol. I can safely interpret that the default position of most people when it comes to For many, doing good rehab is not the prisoners being released is to keep them in complete answer. Almost as important is prison. Really, the reverse should be the the reintegration phase of a sentence position. where graduation from the programmes can be followed by a range of activities: The board can only release a prisoner if independent living in self-care; work it is satisfied that he/she would not be an outside the prison wire; release to work undue risk to the safety of the public. with a local employer; guided releases (to meet family, Probation, open a bank Board members consider a mountain account and get a driver’s licence). of information before meeting a prisoner and deciding on their fate. We consider the Ultimately the parole board wants to detail of the crime(s) that brought them to see that the release proposal includes a prison, their offending history, safe place to stay, with support from psychological and psychiatric reports, family or friends or in supported submissions from victims, submissions accommodation. In many cases the rehab from the prisoner’s family and other and reintegration continues in the supporters, accommodation proposals community as part of the special and a parole assessment report completed conditions of parole we impose. by a case manager with input from a probation officer. The reality is, that all but those serving indefinite sentences (life or preventive In particular, we consider what detention) will be released at least by the rehabilitation the prisoner has completed, end of their sentence and our mission is to including drug and alcohol programmes, ensure that their time inside is not a medium and high intensity rehab wasted opportunity; that they learn about programmes dealing with violence or themselves and what is likely to trip them sexual offending, gambling programmes, up if released. individual counselling and more.

40 Marist Messenger February 2023 We are very conscious of our duty to to deny the offending happened, some will consider victims’ views and, at their do the work but for many reasons, request, will meet with them to get their including cognitive problems, are unable perspectives. We find it hugely valuable to to progress. Some will no doubt return to hear of their experiences and thoughts prison as recidivist offenders. and our decisions will often reflect that and their thoughts on where the prisoner It is difficult not to feel sad and helpless might be released. when reading the horrific details of a prisoner’s upbringing. No wonder so many It will surprise no one that we see New are feeling lost. Zealand’s most serious behavioural issues on a daily basis. They include domestic Some of them are brave enough to seek violence, gang violence, sexual offending ACC-paid counselling for the traumas they against children (largely by family suffered in childhood, including being members) and the serious, ongoing victims in violent and dysfunctional damage caused by methamphetamine and families, in state care, in foster homes and alcohol. detention centres. I admit to a degree of naivety when I But we hear and see many success started working for the board. I had the stories where rehab has had the desired view that if a person could remember the effect, where there is an ongoing physical and emotional pain of being commitment to further learning on sexually assaulted as a child by an older release, where the offender has person in their family the last thing they successfully reached out to family and would do would be to repeat that same whanau for support and a place to stay. abuse on a young child. Rehabilitation has common themes: But, of course, as I was to learn, the learning that it’s OK to ask for help, that greatest amount of sexual offending on family is more important than gang life, children is committed in a familial context that family activities and sport can – fathers, step fathers, grandfathers, overcome isolation and boredom. uncles, brothers etc – and often the perpetrator was a victim of similar For those cynics who believe we should offending. . lock up and throw away the key, some thought should be given to the enormous It can be difficult to remain upbeat financial and social cost of incarceration when reading about some of the offending and that incarceration delivers security for and then talking to the offender about it. a while but is not the ultimate solution to preventing and reducing crime. Some will decline programmes, opting

Marist Messenger February 2023 41 The last two years have imposed Many of these organisations are driven greater restrictions on inmates in the form by Christian principles or just as a of reduced, delayed or cancelled rehab response to a humanitarian need. programmes and a suspension of family visits to prisoners while Covid has There is no doubt that more could be dominated the landscape. done to reduce offending rates and the numbers in prisons. The parole board has continued to see everyone on their due dates, albeit by More funding for rehabilitation video conference, rather than by visiting programmes, more psychologists, more the prisons, not ideal but effective all the employers signing up to the release to same. work opportunities, more organisations willing to provide a lifeline for those We must all be grateful for the work of released with accommodation and other so many people dedicated to trying to turn support, more families able to forgive and prisoners’ lives around. Without them the lend a helping hand – these are all situation would be a lot worse. essential. These include prison staff, Perhaps the best answer to the psychologists, programme facilitators and question I routinely am asked is to point case managers in the prisons, and out that our parole records show the accommodation and reintegration longer an offender has on parole in the services such as the Salvation Army, community – and so an earlier release – Anglican Action, the Grace Foundation, the less likely they are to reoffend. Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society (PARS) and so many others.

42 Marist Messenger February 2023 Spirituality of Fasting By Victor Parachin King George II (r. 1727-1760) In spite of the fact that the bible refers to fasting nearly one hundred times, it In 1756 a frightened and somber King remains a discipline which is absent from of England called for a day of solemn the lives of many Christians. Yet, fasting is prayer and fasting. Behind his call was the connected to people whose lives were immediate threat of an invasion and war filled with spiritual power and moral by the French. On February 6th, 1756 authority. Great religious leaders such as Reverend John Wesley recorded in his Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Jesus, Origen, journal the positive effect a day of fasting Martin Luther, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius and prayer had upon the nation: “The fast Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Jonathan Edwards day was a glorious day, such as London and Charles Finney were known to fast, has scarce seen . . . Every church in the city often for prolonged periods of time. was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God Although most Christians may not feel heareth prayer, and there will yet be a the need to do a lengthy fast, there are lengthening of our tranquility.” In a benefits to be gained from even a short footnote he added: “Humility was turned period of self-denial. Here are a dozen into national rejoicing for the threatened spiritual benefits of fasting. invasion by the French was averted.” 1. Fasting expands compassion. It's easy to talk about the problem of world hunger but the physical impact and emotional awareness is heightened when we do without food. “My sensitivity to the plight of the poor increased,” says one woman who fasted. “Eating only one meal a day made me tired and resentful and mine was a voluntary fast. What was it like for those who were lucky to get one meal a

Marist Messenger February 2023 43 day? I couldn't be indifferent to their important decisions concerning the early suffering once I'd shared it.” church ministry. (Acts 13:2-3; Acts 14:23) 2. Fasting is a way of preparing to 4. Fasting promotes spiritual growth. meet a major challenge. People in the From the second through the fifth bible who faced great trials and troubles centuries, many important church leaders often dealt with them through prayer and and mystics recommended fasting to fasting. Whenever special courage, insight, deepen the spiritual life. Often they linked strength was needed, they turned to fasting to acts of kindness and love as an prayer combined with fasting. For important spiritual discipline. Included in example, before Queen Esther approached that group are: Clement of Rome, John the king asking him to spare the Jews from Chrysostom, Peter Chrysologus, Jerome destruction, she asked her people to spend and Augustine. In fact, Augustine offered three days in prayer and fasting. She felt this spiritual advice: “Do you wish your that such a difficult enterprise needed prayer to fly toward God? Give it two prayers fortified by fasting if her effort was wings: fasting and almsgiving.” to be successful. “When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the 5. Fasting is good for the soul. law. And if I perish, I perish,” she said. \"Irrational feeding darkens the soul and (Esther 4:16) Consequently, Esther makes it unfit for spiritual experiences,\" approached the king with confidence and observed Thomas Aquinas. Those who fast boldness, persuading him to reverse an report the practice leads to spiritual edict which called for the annihilation of renewal, increased insight, deeper the Jews. A modern application would be commitment, clarity of life purpose and to spend time in prayer and fasting greater intimacy with God. whenever a personal or professional crisis looms. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of The Book Of Jewish Values, says that many 3. Fasting is a way of following the example of Christ and the Apostles. Prior to his public ministry, Jesus spent forty days in prayer and fasting. (Matthew 4:1ff). Also, Jesus expected followers to fast. He said, “when you fast” not “if” you fast in Matthew 6:16.The missionary team of Paul and Barnabas are reported in scripture as fasting frequently before

44 Marist Messenger February 2023 Jewish people find the Yom Kippur (Day of suspended for twenty-four hours, how Atonement) required fast ‘difficult’ much more our needs for all the claiming they’re so hungry they cannot nonessentials.” St. Francis de Sales offered focus on other activities. He offers this similar advice when he recommended insight: “If the pangs of hunger can be so fasting: “If you are able to fast, you will do painful, then let something good emerge well to observe some days beyond what from them: Let them remind us that there are ordered by the Church, for besides the are people who feel such hunger hundreds ordinary effect of fasting in raising the of days a year.” mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly 6. Fasting is a reminder we do not live reward, it is also a great matter to be able by 'bread alone'. Although food provides to control greediness, and to keep the physical strength and energy for the body, sensual appetites and the whole body the discipline of fasting provides the soul subject to the law of the Spirit.” with stamina and vitality. In the New Testament Jesus quoted from 8. Fasting heightens gratitude. Often Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man does not live by we take for granted the food which we bread alone but on every word that comes consume daily. Skipping meals for a day or from the mouth of the Lord.” (NIV). two will bring a strong reminder that our Behind that statement is the truth that easy access to food should be a source of people experience a hunger which cannot gratitude One man who fasted over a be filled merely by food and other material weekend broke his fast with a simple meal things. Ultimately, meaning, satisfaction of soup. “After not eating for two days, the and fulfilment in life result from a healthy soup tasted unbelievably delicious. Every relationship to God. Fasting is one way of spoonful was like eating from an entire nurturing that relationship. banquet. Prior to my fasting experience I would have merely eaten the soup without 7. Fasting is a positive response any awareness of it's flavour, texture or against materialism. “We are constantly taste.” New Testament scholar William bombarded by advertising telling us that Barclay notes that fasting is effective in we must have this or that to be healthy, restoring basic pleasures and helping us happy, popular or wise,” says Allen S. appreciate the ordinary. “Nowadays the Maller, Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver appetite is blunted; the palate is dulled, City, CO. “By fasting we assert that we need the edge is gone off it. What was once a not be totally dependent on external sharp pleasure has become simply a drug things, even such essentials as food. If our which we cannot do without. Fasting most basic need for food and drink can be

Marist Messenger February 2023 45 keeps the thrill in pleasure by keeping self-indulgent. We are in danger of pleasure always fresh and new.” becoming less resilient than our pioneer ancestors. Fasting is an effective antidote 9. Fasting strengthens virtues and to the increasing 'softness' in life. A life weakens vices. “All great virtues bear the which reaches out for every comfort and imprint of self-denial,” observed William pleasure becomes weak, sluggish, flaccid Ellery Channing. Time in prayer combined and fragile. It is a life devoid of fulfilment with denial of food is effective in and meaning. “No pain, no balm; no expanding the boundaries of the heart and thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no soul. People who pray and fast regularly cross, no crown,” noted William Penn. often experience greater compassion, kindness, sensitivity and love for others. 11. Fasting can enlighten others. This They become less judgmental and more use of fasting as a teaching tool and a understanding. True humility is developed moral imperative to change was exercised while false pride is reduced. by Mahatma Gandhi. Early in the struggle against British Rule over India, Gandhi 10. Fasting builds self-discipline. conducted a fast in prison for the violent Many people operate on the premise that excesses of his followers who did not a primary goal in life to always be happy practice his teaching of nonviolence and free of pain or discomfort. Our culture against British authorities. Later, Gandhi makes it easy for us to become extremely fasted to persuade the government to remove discriminatory laws against people considered ‘untouchables’. 12. Fasting from food leads to other types of fasts. This was something noted and promoted by St. Ambrose (340-397) who said: “Do not limit the benefit of fasting merely to abstinence from food, for a true fast means refraining from evil. Loose every unjust bond, put away your resentment against your neighbour, forgive him his offences. Do not let your fasting lead to wrangling and strife. You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother; you abstain from wine, but not from insults. So all the labour of your fast is useless.”

46 Marist Messenger February 2023 Grow Old Along With Me By Anne Kerrigan “Grow old along with me! September 2022 The best is yet to be, the last of life Dear Marty, For which the rest was made Our times are in His hand.” You became a Hospice patient on September 11, 2022, just over a week ago. Robert Browning 1812-1889. In that time, I have seen you start to fade (Poem written to his wife, Elizabeth.) away, slowly leaving me. You sleep for long periods, leaving little time for our treasured conversations. I am so grateful we had those talks when you were able to engage in conversation. We talked about all the important things; our fabulous life together, our wonderful children and grandchildren, our friends, our faith, and even our death. We talked about the pain of leaving each other, remembering our joke that “he who dies first wins!” Neither of us wanted to be without the other, but that is not how life usually works out. The good news is that we are in the ninth decade of life so we will not be alone for long. We did grow old with each other, and that has been pure gift. Nothing was left unsaid; those talks always, always ended with expressions of gratitude to God for His many gifts. Thank you for all you have

Marist Messenger February 2023 47 always been. I never doubted your total Grief and love and support for me, and I know you Gratitude have always been sure of the same from me. “Joy and sorrow are inseparable; together they come and while one sits alone At the moment, you are resting with you at your table, remember that the peacefully. Any discomfort has been other is asleep upon your bed.” controlled by the medication protocol, and you seem to be at ease and resting Khalil Gibran, 1883-1931. The Prophet. comfortably. Father Bruce was here “He will wipe away any tears from their yesterday and he prayed the beautiful eyes, and there shall be no more death or words of the church, anointing you as he mourning or wailing or pain.” prayed. Revelations 21:4 Your earthly journey is coming to a close, and my heart is breaking at the October 10, 2022 thought of losing you. Even though you are now very compromised, you are still here Dear Marty, with me. I am still able to talk to you, On October 1, 2022, you went home to hoping that you are still able to hear my God and I became a widow. Your contact words. I will read this letter to you, hoping with Covid and its insidious aftermath is the words resonate with you at some level. over. The long two and a half years of Let the angels bring the words into your trying to recover from that virus has finally heart. ended. You suffered with such grace and dignity. You never complained, but every The Lord who made you is waiting for once in a while you commented that you you. Our daughter, Kathleen, is also had hoped to get better. You worried about waiting for you, as are all the loved ones me caring for you. You finally recognised who have gone before you. “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Shakespeare, from Hamlet. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life! And, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806- 1861. Her poem to her husband.

48 Marist Messenger February 2023 had shared with each other the fact that we were the luckiest people on the planet because we had each other; deep in our bones we knew it to be true. Marty, I am eighty-four years old, and so you will not be alone, without me, for long. Our love story will continue. that you would not recover as you had The wake was sad but happy because hoped. You accepted it but you didn’t like your smile was on display in every photo. it. You never wanted to leave me or your The joy you felt in life was so obvious to family and friends; you loved your life. everyone. The floral arrangements were Together, we deferred to the grace of God, colourful and just so beautiful. You would hoping we would both be as brave as our have loved the floral Irish flag! A photo of daughter, Kathleen, had been on her the Kerrigan homestead in Galway was on journey back to God. display, a beautiful tribute to your Irish heritage. The memorial cards you planned were just perfect with your wonderful smile again clearly visible. Father Brian McNamara, the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, said the prayer service on Friday evening, and he verbalised a beautiful “He will wipe away any tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning or wailing or pain.” Revelations 21:4 The prophet was right in saying that joy tribute to you. So many people came to and sorrow are inseparable. As I grieve express their sorrow and join with us in your death, I am trying to balance grief grieving your loss; they came to support and gratitude. My heart has been family and friends who were heartbroken shattered by your loss, but I am also very at the thought of a world without you. deeply filled with gratitude as I reflect on our life together. Many, many times, we Then, there was the funeral liturgy which was inspirational, prayerful, and

Marist Messenger February 2023 49 personal. Bob’s eulogy was perfect. Father spent my life with you. Again, grief and Bruce, our dear friend, was the main gratitude. celebrant, assisted by Msgr. Brian, as well as our friends Msgr. John Strynkowski, As Elvis sang, “What now my love, now Deacons Jack Meehan and Tom O’Connor. that you have left me?” I pray for the grace They all came together to present a and the strength to face each day without beautiful and prayerful tribute to you. The you as bravely as possible. Our wonderful prayers you wrote, the readings you chose, family surrounds me, and our faithful the music you selected all came together friends will be there to bolster my spirits as in perfect harmony. They were a tribute to needed. God has promised He will wipe the importance of faith in your life; it also away the tears and there will be no more proclaimed the good news of Christ as a death or pain. I will hold Him to that witness for all present. Well done! You promise. I will see you soon. would have been so proud of your family. We all came together to celebrate a life “The day which we fear as our last is but well lived and a man who was much loved. the birthday of eternity.” Seneca, Roman Even the weather was beautiful; the sun philosopher. Died 65 AD. shone, symbolic of heaven’s joy at your arrival! It was all perfect except for the fact that we wish it hadn’t happened and that we hadn’t been there. Such is the mystery of life. The guests have now departed. Silence permeates my being. No more late night conversations, no more laughs, no more anything. I will have to depend on the many, many treasured memories to bring moments of relief and even a smattering of joy. Even though I know I will eventually see you again, I will miss your physical presence. When you were sleeping for long periods, at least I knew you were there. I would talk to you, hoping you would be able to hear me. I would look at you and marvel at how blessed I had been to have

50 Marist Messenger February 2023 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Malaita, Solomon Islands. After just three years in the Solomons, he transferred in Death of a Marist 1972 to the Marist Training Centre Tutu in Fiji, which was in danger of being closed. Fr Michael McVerry SM Tutu, with its youth programs and its courses for married couples, was to Born: 4 September 1943 become his work for the next 40 years. Professed: 9 January 1964 Ordained: 24 June 1968 After completing three years at Tutu he Died: 21 October 2022 went to Berkeley California where he completed a Master’s degree in Liturgy. Michael McVerry was a great Marist, a great priest and a giant missionary in While he had a love of Mary from his Oceania. This was made possible because NZ formation, at Tutu Mike found a new he was a truly wonderful human being, Marian inspiration to lead him in his work warm, compassionate, sensitive, there. Two Marists became his mentors: an understanding, insightful, practical and Irish man, Fr Micky Bransfield, and a Kiwi caring. He became a world leader in rural farmer, Br Kevin Foote. Micky guided him education; and world leader in Marriage on how to manage government and Encounter. politics in Fiji; and Kevin on how to keep Mary at the heart of all that was done at Mick (or Mac as he became known) Tutu entered Greenmeadows seminary in 1962. He was intelligent but book study seldom The land on which Tutu was built had inspired him. In those days he saw himself been dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in as a poor student, but his real skill, 1914 and a statue from Lourdes had been working with people, was just beginning to erected there in 1908. Mick would remind become apparent. the staff that they were called to “be Mary” to one another and to the students. It was After ordination he taught briefly at St Mick’s genius that saw in Mary of Lura Patrick’s College, Silverstream and then St (Lourdes) the story that could unify, Bede’s, Christchurch. He volunteered for enlighten, and inspire staff and students. the overseas missions and was sent to Mary’s statue would be where all Tutu activities would begin. Now, after another 30 years, a Marian spirituality developed which has become part of the training and formation given to all who participate in the programs in Tutu, and has helped inform an inculturated spirituality.